PHOTO BY BRENT WALLACE

MEET ME AT THE DEPOT

Hattiesburg’s majestically restored train station
celebrates its centennial

J TEXT BY SHANNON L. ESTES

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY ALBERT & ASSOCIATES
Just imagine downtown Hattiesburg a hundred
years ago. You can see the bustling little town of
several hundred people, mostly sawmill workers,
buzzing with excitement over the new addition to
an area now known as the Newman-Buschman
Historic District. The town built by railroads and
sawmills was now connected to the outside world
by a 14,900 square foot, Italian-Renaissance-style,
tile roofed train depot.
Adding to the pride felt by city residents that
day was the fact that the depot wasn’t designed by
just any architect. It was designed by Frank P.
Milburn.
The station was designed to reflect the booming
little lumber town’s attitudes and vision of a grand
future.
Through the years the depot has served the Hub
City as a transportation mode, contributed to music
legend, helped win two world wars and has been a
cornerstone of the revitalization of downtown.
Now, a few years after the completion of a $7.6 mil-
lion restoration, Hattiesburg residents are taking
pride in the building’s approaching 100th birthday.
“This depot is a real addition to historic
Hattiesburg,” said Graham Hale, 74, as he waited
for a train in mid January. “This building is a real
“Milburn was a pretty famous architect who was asset to the community.”
well known for his depot designs,” said Sarah
Newton of Albert and Associates Architects. “The A TIME TO CELEBRATE
Italian-Renaissance style was pretty popular As the depot’s birthday approaches, the impor-
(around the turn of the 20th century).” tance of that historic milestone will be celebrated

a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 19
 with several planned events,
beginning Feb. 13.
“We will host an event in
the Grand Ball Room,” said
Glenn Sanders, president of
the Mississippi Great
Southern Chapter of the
National Railway Historical
Society. “There will be a
banquet and a swap meet.”
The city is planning an
open house during Spring
Art Walk on April 17 that
will highlight the history
and restoration process of
the train depot.
“The 100-year milestone is
an important one,” said
Betsy Rowell, executive
director of the Historic
Hattiesburg Downtown
PHOTO BY PAUL HOWELL

PHOTO BY BRENT WALLACE

PHOTO BY BRENT WALLACE
Association. “The depot is actu-
ally one of our cornerstone build-
ings.”
The downtown association has
planned events that are separate
from the official open house the
city is hosting.
“There will be a sculpture
exhibit during March and April
using elements from railroads,
such as rails, cross-tie beams,
spikes and so forth. It is really an
unusual art exhibit,” Rowell said.
“There will also be a Summer
Heritage Food Fest on June 18-
19.”
FROM THE START
In the beginning, Hattiesburg’s
train depot was the center of
transportation in this part of the
Pine Belt. Before the construction
of highways, the affordability of
the family car, and the advent of
commercial airlines, most long
distance overland journeys were
done via passenger train.
Not long after the train station
opened for business, Hattiesburg
became known as the “Hub City”
and the depot was its center.
“If you look at old railroad
maps from those days you’ll see
Hattiesburg in the middle of all
these different rail lines,”
Sanders said. “Hattiesburg was in
the hub of all these railroads.”
PEAKS AND VALLEYS
Commuter traffic at the site
probably reached its peak in the
early 1940s when more than
100,000 soldiers passed through
Camp Shelby on their way to
Africa, Europe and Asia to fight
the Axis powers.
“My parents told me of how
there used to be train after train
after train loaded down with sol-
diers coming into that station,”
PHOTO COURTESY ALBERT & ASSOCIATES
said Patti Mowery, a lifelong res-
ident of Hattiesburg. “There used
to be a Greyhound station down-
town. My parents said there
would be many, many buses
pulling out of there loaded down
with soldiers who had left the
train station.”
Traffic through the depot
dropped off during the 1950s.
The era of the family car and the
commercial jet had arrived. By
the 1960s the station was used as
a freight depot due to the declin-
ing number of passengers. As
usage fell, deterioration set in.
As the 21st century
approached, demolition of the
old hub of the Hub City was dis-
a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 21
 cussed. However, the value of
the old depot was just too great
to let the building be destroyed.
And that value was more than
just financial, said Johnny
DuPree, mayor of Hattiesburg.
Due to the cultural and histori-
cal value of the depot, the
restoration project became one of
DuPree’s first projects as mayor.
After six years, that effort came
to fruition.
“It has been a long time com-
ing but the results are outstand-
ing,” the mayor said. “The train
station, in my opinion, is one of
the most beautiful buildings in
Hattiesburg and it was the begin-
ning of changing the look of
downtown.”
Amtrak passenger Saint
Missionary Beatrice Vaughn, 84,
agreed with DuPree and lauded
the city’s efforts to restore its
depot and downtown area.
“It’s so nice in here. It is so
clean and peaceful,” she said.
“Hattiesburg is such a clean city.
The way they have restored this
building and the way they keep
their city reminds me of
Canada.”
PART OF MUSIC LEGEND
Among the important events
surrounding this downtown cor-
nerstone is, according to legend,
the birth of rock and roll at the
depot. In 1936, Blind Roosevelt
Graves performed the first guitar
riff at the depot, according to
rock historian Robert Palmer.
“I don’t think Hattiesburg gets
enough credit for its role in
music history,” said Matthew
Curtis, who works at C&M Music
in Hattiesburg. “According to the
legend, this is the birthplace of
rock and roll. This is where it all
started.”
Legends, however, are stories
22 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
of events that are perceived to
have happened. That means they
may or may not be true. The lack
of evidence of Graves having
played- or not played - the first
guitar riff in the train depot
leaves the story open for debate,
said Adam McAdory, also with
C&M Music.
“There’s just not enough proof
that it actually happened,”
McAdory said. “If there was, it
would be on billboards. Proof
would make it a bigger deal.”
But proven or not, the story is
a good one.
“Hattiesburg definitely does
not promote that story enough,”
Curtis said.
THE LOVE OF A
COMMUNITY
A building such as this is
brought back from the brink of
destruction only when a commu-
nity loves it too much to let it go.
From citizens, to politicians, to
construction workers and archi-
tects, those involved in saving
this historic structure take pride
in their accomplishment.
The building was in very poor
shape when the reconstruction
efforts began and had to be com-
pletely gutted and refurbished,
said Newton, the lead architect
on the depot restoration project.
Its days as a freight depot had
destroyed the terrazzo tile floor
in the Grand Hall. Water poured
through the roof and the ceiling
had been destroyed. All of the
original doors and most of the
windows were either gone or
damaged. And all that was just
some of the damage that had to
be repaired.
“When we remodeled we tried
to keep it as close to its original
design as possible,” she said.
“The contractors did a good job
and we were very pleased with
the end result.”
A few modern amenities were
added, however, to make life
more convenient for Amtrak pas-
sengers, such as an air condition-
ing system and a clock tower.
“It’s nice to see it occupied
and full of life,” Newton said
with a smile. “It’s better to have
a building like this repaired and
utilized than to just sit there and
be an eyesore.”
Rowell agreed. “It gives peo-
ple an opportunity to come
downtown for event exposure to
what we are doing downtown.
Many times these are people who
wouldn’t necessarily come down-
town otherwise.”
Funding for the restoration
came from several sources,
including the federal govern-
ment, the Mississippi
Department of Transportation
and the city of Hattiesburg.
“Most of it was federal
money,” Newton said. “We origi-
nally intended to do the project
in phases, but by the time the
city was ready to begin the fund-
ing had come through. So we did
the whole project.”
Once the work was underway
in November 2004, there were
very few snags, Newton said.
“Everything went pretty smooth-
ly. We even had Hurricane
Katrina in the middle of it, and
yet there were still very few hic-
cups.”
While the old depot has had
its ups and downs, a century
later it is still being used.
“The building is a venue for
events, both large and small,”
Rowell said. “Weddings and
receptions are held there, as well
as large scale events.”
The city assumed ownership of
the building in 2000 and the ren-
PHOTO BY PAUL HOWELL
ovations were completed several
years later. A black tie gala
marked the rededication of the
old depot on April 21, 2007.
“Over the years investment
with public dollars has equaled
that of the private investment,”
Rowell said. “It is a very, very
positive thing to see our elected
officials help save important his-
toric buildings such as the
depot.”
The high level of investments
and involvement involved in sav-
ing the depot was well worth it,
she said. “The cost augments
what we are trying to do. It’s
always wonderful to save a build-
ing in the public domain.
Anytime we can save a landmark
building it is good for
Hattiesburg. Downtown is com-
ing of age”
The restoration project took on
a personal note for many Pine
Belt residents. Mowery, in partic-
ular, gets emotional when
recounting the many events from
her childhood that occurred at
the depot. The daughter of a rail-
road employee, the old station
has always been a part of her life.
“I grew up down there,” she
said. “I can remember the porters
rolling me out to the trains to
load the luggage. And the
(restored) depot is just as beauti-
PHOTO COURTESY ALBERT & ASSOCIATES
ful as I remember it.”
NOT JUST A LANDMARK
The old depot is a unique land-
mark that brings back fond mem-
ories for many Pine Belt residents
and is a show piece for a down-
town determined to revitalize.
But it is more than just those
things. It’s still a functioning
train station.
Vaughn, a New York resident,
said she has ridden trains all her
life and really enjoys the experi-
ence. For her, rails are the only
way to travel long distance.
“At my age, I don’t need to be
on the highway in a car. And
buses? Forget about them. They
ride rough and make too many
stops. Give me a train any day.”
In fiscal year 2009, more than
11,100 people boarded or
unboarded Amtrak trains at the
depot. These passengers generat-
ed roughly $625,000 in ticket
sales, according to a fact sheet on
Amtrak’s Web site.
A train known as the Crescent
takes passengers to or from New
Orleans, Birmingham, Ala.,
Atlanta, Ga., Charlotte, N.C.,
Washington, D.C., Philadelphia,
Pa., Baltimore, Md. and New
York. The train makes two daily
stops in Hattiesburg.
As Hale waited for his train to
take him to his granddaughter’s
wedding in Birmingham on that
nippy January morning, he
smiled proudly as he talked
about the improved conditions of
the facility.
“It’s a wonderful restoration.
They did a really good job,” Hale
said. “This is the first time in 25
years that I’ve taken a train. I
have a foot problem and I could-
n’t drive up there. So, I decided
to go by train.”
Although it’s been a while
since he boarded a passenger
train, Hale is no stranger to that
mode of transportation.
“I went to college in
Charlottesville, Va., and I rode
the train from Meridian to there
and back. My parents would pick
me up in Meridian and take me
to Jackson (where the family
lived),” he said. “My children
ride the train all the time and
when I hurt my foot, they said I
would enjoy it.”
A NATIONAL STAGE
For a short time on this very
spot, Hattiesburg became the cen-
ter of national attention and a
part of presidential history when
then-Sen. Hillary Rodham
Clinton arrived to stump for the
Democrat party’s nomination in
March of 2008.
a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i 23
 Nearly 12,000 people turned
out to see the presidential candi-
date and former first lady as she
asked for their votes. Downtown
was so crowded that a line to get
into the station’s ballroom
snaked back and forth along the
train tracks and spilled into the
streets.
Mayor DuPree remembers that
chilly, misty morning as well. He
was the one who introduced the
Pine Belt to the woman who
would become secretary of state.
That day “was one of crazed
excitement and monumental
exposure for Hattiesburg,”
DuPree said. “As thousands
poured onto the premises of
Hattiesburg’s train depot it was
evident that the millions of dol-
lars that were used to renovate
this facility was worth it and
allowed the nation to peer into
the heart of one of America’s
most livable small cities.”
Although there were many
layers of security put in place by
the secret service, “it did not dis-
pel the surreal atmosphere that
gave way to an event that
changed the course of our
nation’s history,” he said.
LOOKING FORWARD
As its 100th birthday
approaches, the old depot still
PHOTO BY PAUL HOWELL
serves Hattiesburg as an inter-
modal transit facility, a show-
piece and a link to the days gone
by. But there is one other service
that the depot provides for the
Hub City. It serves as a majestic,
silent lure that keeps visitors
wanting to return.
“This place is so nice I could
just forget about New York,”
Vaughn said while awaiting her
train. “I will be back.”
AMENITIES
So that Grand Hall could serve
not only as a passenger hall but
also as a much needed event
space, the renovation program
called for an alternate passenger
waiting room that would provide
all of the modern amenities of
intermodal transit. The ticketing
area was designed to accommo-
date local and regional bus serv-
ice, rail service, and a welcome
center for visitors to the area.
An historic emblem celebrat-
ing Hattiesburg as the Hub City
was recreated with water jet cut
terrazzo on the floor.
PASSENGER PLATFORM
The Hattiesburg Train Depot
once boasted having one of the
longest covered passenger plat-
forms at 924 feet.
Over the years, 200 feet at
either end of the canopy was
removed, shortening the covered
portion of the platform to around
500 feet.
During the restoration, the
entire platform was demolished
and replaced. A raised platform
with ramp access created a grade
entry to Grand Hall. New canopy
extensions were added to com-
plement the historic canopy. The
restored canopy is slightly short-
er than the original.
AWARD WINNER
The depot restoration project
won a Mississippi American
Institute of Architects Honor
Award in 2009.
Source: Albert & Associates
Architects
FOUNDING
In August of 1880, during a
railroad survey trip from
Meridian to New Orleans, Capt.
William Hardy stopped to rest
and have lunch. He drew a line
through the virgin pine forest
and intersected the New Orleans
and North Eastern Railroad
where the city of Hattiesburg is
now located. Hardy decided to
locate a train station here and
named it “Hattiesburg” in honor
of his second wife, Hattie Lott
Hardy.
Source: Hattiesburg Historical
Society
DETAILS
Location: 308 Newman St.,
Hattiesburg
Building Area: 14,900 sq. ft.
Cost per Square Foot: $342
Construction Cost: $7,615,909*
Date of Completion: March 2007